I say: It has another, more complete chain of transmission. Al-Masʿūdī narrated it from ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“I came out to you after Laylat al-Qadr and the false messiah had been disclosed to me. Then two men quarrelled at the entrance to the mosque, so I went to separate them, and I was caused to forget them both. I shall tell you something concerning them: as for Laylat al-Qadr, seek it on the odd-numbered nights of the last ten nights; and as for the false messiah, he is blind in one eye, with a broad forehead and a broad neck, and a slight stoop, as though he were Qaṭan ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā.” He said, “Messenger of Allah, will his resemblance to me harm me?” He replied, “No. You are a Muslim man, whereas he is a disbelieving man.”

Ahmad narrated it in al-Musnad (2/291) through two chains from al-Masʿūdī, with this wording.

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, except that al-Masʿūdī suffered deterioration of memory. *

3987—(“You were shown to me in a dream twice: a man was carrying you in a piece of silk, saying, ‘This is your wife.’ I would say, ‘If this is from Allah, He will bring it to pass.’”)

Ahmad (6/41, 128, and 161)—this being his wording—al-Bukhari (3895, 5078, 5125, 7011, and 7012), Muslim (7/134), Ibn Hibban (7051), Ibn Saʿd in al-Tabaqat (8/64 and 67), al-Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwah (2/410), al-Baghawi in Sharh al-Sunnah (12/236), and al-Khatib in al-Tarikh (5/428/2940) narrated it through Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from Aishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said to me: … and he mentioned it.

The wording of the others is like that of Ahmad—including one narration of al-Bukhari’s—but in another of his narrations, numbered 5078 and 5125, it reads:

“You were shown to me in a dream; the angel came bringing you.”